Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Final Peer Review (Sad!)
Today, it really hit me that it's the end of the semester. I'm not going to lie, I have been counting down the days until I fly home. But today's peer review was somewhat sad for me because I realized that it was the last one I would ever be doing in this particular class. I also thought back to the essay that was handed out about peer reviews at the beginning of the semester; at that point, while reading that essay, I really had no idea what an integral part of my writing process the peer review would be. One thing I still remember from that essay is that, when a student complained to the teacher about how he did not receive adequate feedback from his peers, the teacher replied that it's not about the feedback that he receives. I always understood this idea, but, when I first heard it, I didn't think it was true. But peer reviews are not about improving one's writing; they are about improving one's writing process. They have definitely taught me to be a more disciplined and thoughtful writer while also granting me eight opportunities to read extremely insightful essays that I would not have otherwise read. It almost saddens me that I was only able to review eight people in our class's writing-- we should have had a fifth essay! But, truthfully, almost all of my peers' writing that I had the pleasure to read this semester was extremely insightful and taught me something about my own writing. In regard to the essay topic that we reviewed itself, the personal narrative essay was definitely my favorite from the whole semester. I have a lot of contemplation to do after today's peer review, but I love prompts that are extremely broad so that I can make them my own. Overall, peer reviews were an extremely positive experience for me, and I think I will use them in the future even if they are not required for a grade or no formal letter is given.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Awe, I love that you wrote about this! I was thinking about this too while we were doing peer reviews: I counted up the people whose papers I had read and noted the people whose papers I didn't. I really enjoyed the peer reviews each time we did them. Not only did the kind comments of my peers give me confidence, but their constructive criticism helped me create a better paper in the end. My favorite peer review was definitely this past one because it allowed me a chance to get to know my peers at a much deeper level than I had before, which couldn't be said for a peer review on three advertisements or the other essays as much. While I can't say that I would necessarily want to write another paper to get the chance to have another peer review, I am so grateful for the peer reviews we did have this semester and I'm also thankful to my peers for opening up and allowing me to read their writing, welcoming my comments, and providing me with their own valuable insight on my work.
ReplyDelete